TEHRAN – Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai’s latest cartoon shows his doubt on the efficacy of the vaccine produced at Pfizer Inc., an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. 

In a post published on his Instagram on Saturday, he said that if the U.S. has a vaccine that can really then save people’s lives, two questions should be raised.

“First why don’t they make use of this vaccine for their own citizens? Larry King died of COVID-19, he was a billionaire and he could easily get access to this vaccine,” he said.

Larry King, who quizzed thousands of world leaders, politicians and entertainers for CNN and other news outlets in a career spanning more than six decades, died aged 87 on January 23.

“Second if this vaccine does not have a positive effect on its citizens, why should the entire world turn into their laboratory mice and die? We should know that England and the U.S. have never been our friends. They should first try to save the lives of their own citizens,” he added.

Shojaei-Tabatabai is the director of the Visual Arts Office of the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization. He has organized several cartoon contests so far.

He is currently the director of the cartoon section of the sixth International Art Festival of Resistance focusing on themes of “We Defeat Coronavirus “and “The U.S. Decline”.

He is also a jury member of the “Palestine Is Not Alone”, an international cartoon, caricature and poster contest to show solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.

Mohammad Khazai, Masud Ziai, Saedi Sadeqi and Abbas Nasseri are the Iranian jury members who will judge the artworks at the contest.

Luiz Carlos Fernandes from Brazil, Cristina Bernazzani from Italy, Izabela Kowalska from Poland and Balai Kartun Rossem from Malaysia will judge the submissions to the international competition.

Due to the high risk of spreading the coronavirus, the contest “Palestine Is Not Alone” will be held online, and each submitted work will be uploaded on the Irancartoon website.

Photo: A cartoon by Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai.

RM/MMS/YAW